When We Were Young
by CrazyHinata
Summary: Itachi's and Hinata's unlikely friendship grows day by day as they learn the secrets of each other.COMPLETE
1. To Be Shy, or To Be Mischeivous That is

**A/n: ok….. This is a fic to help me gather all my brain creativity and such… So enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, then Sasuke wouldn't have a duck-butt on his head, Itachi would be hokage, and Hinata would have beaten the crap out of Neji, who would have shorter, wispier hair (not to say he isn't cool, but still…). **

**When We Were Young**

**Chapter 1: To be shy, or to be mischievous? That is the question. **

**---**

**The Hyuuga heiress, Hinata, opened her pale eye lids to reveal even paler eyes. She stretched her five-year-old body and sighed. She had always detested getting up in the morning, but she would not complain. She was too shy for that. **

**The young girl rolled out of bed and started dressing herself for the day ahead.**

**---**

"**Brother, wake up! I'm bored!" Sasuke complained loudly. **

**Itachi rolled over to glare at his little brother, but only sighed in frustration. He loathed when Sasuke woke him. He was about to say something when his father walked into the room and stared at the pair of them. **

"**Itachi, get dressed. We are going to the Hyuuga estate today," Fugaku said. Before Itachi could object, the elder Uchiha exited the room. **

**The ten-year-old boy glared at his brother and pushed him out of his room so he could dress. He detested the Hyuuga's, but he would not complain. Complaining was not his way.**

**---**

**Hinata slowly, shyly walked through the gate encircling the estate behind her father. Dressed formally like her father and cousin, she bowed politely at the also formally attired Uchiha clans-men in front of her. **

**Hiashi pushed her on her back and she walked forward, shyly smiling at the three males in front of her. To the eldest, the one she heard her father address as Fugaku, she bowed politely. **

**He smiled at her and patted her head. She shyly returned the smile. She moved on to the boy at his left. He was small, about her age. **

"**Hinata, this is Fugaku's youngest son, Sasuke," Hiashi said as she forced a smile. 'What strange hair,' she thought. **

"**And this is my elder son Itachi," Fugaku said kindly. **

**The girl looked up for the first time at the boy and became uncertain about how to address him. There was something ominous about him. **

**Itachi just stared down at her, bored. She finally bowed, blushing from her obvious mistake, and mumbled an apology for staring. The Uchihas returned the respect, and Neji nodded respectfully to each in turn.  
**

"**Hinata, show these boys to the yard. Neji, go with Hinata," Hiashi said, motioning them all inside. **

"**U-um… This way," she mumbled, and they followed her to the place she most loved in her home.**

**Sasuke immediately went to explore the yard and Neji went back to sharpening his kunai. **

**Itachi caught the young girl staring at him again and sighed. 'Great, another annoying brat," he thought. **

**The girl looked away from him, and the two just stood their silently. Suddenly, on a whim she said, "Your brother has very strange hair."**

**Itachi just stared open mouthed at her. She flushed and hurriedly added, "I'm s-sorry to offend you, but it looks like he has a duck's…um…" she trailed off. **

**Itachi smirked and sat down beside her, so they would be eye-to-eye. **

"**A duck's what?" he asked smiling a little. **

"**A… a duck's butt…on his head," she said nervously.**

**Then the Uchiha did something very strange for the girl. He laughed, and not to mock her. He was amused. She smiled and laughed a little. Neji snorted disapprovingly from his place, making the two howl in laughter. **

**Sasuke, sensing a good joke, came to see what it was abou****t. However, when he asked about it both heir and heiress pointed at him in unison and laughed until they were blue in the face. When they finally stopped, Sasuke asked about the joke. **

"**Nothing," Hinata gasped out. The boy turned to his brother, who was wiping tears from his eyes, and frowned. **

"**It's nothing Sasuke. Go help Neji. It is polite," Itachi said. The boy walked off with his head down, and Itachi turned to the girl. **

"**What was your name again?" He asked. He hadn't paid attention to the introductions. **

"**Hinata."**

"**I'm Itachi, Hinata," he replied. This, he knew, was the start of an amusing friendship. **

**To be continued**

**----**

**Ok… tell me what you think… **

**-Later**


	2. Walking

**A/N: looking back at my last disclaimer… How scary would it be if Itachi was hokage? I can see him now… "Ok, now go kill everyone in your clan except your younger sibling." Then the guy behind him says, "What if you have ten baby sisters?" …**

"**TREASON!" and the poor man dies. --- But whatever. Ok…I have already disclaimed. Get over it. **

**When We Were Young **

**Chapter 2: Walking**

"Itachi, look out!" Hinata squeaked, pointing in front of them at a fruit cart rolling towards them. They had been talking to each other and not paying attention. Itachi was giving the young heiress a piggy-back ride and as he grinned up at her the fruit-man, as Hinata called him, lost control of his cart, which rolled down the hill they were walking up.

The Chunin quickly removed eight kunai from his pouch and threw four at each front wheel. He moved the girl into his arms and flipped over the cart. When he reached the other side, the fruit cart had stilled. Itachi looked at the girl in his arms. She was curled up into a ball, and clinging onto him for dear life.

Itachi simply walked away as the vendor repeatedly thanked him. He carried the girl to the training grounds and sat her on the ground. She uncurled and looked up at him.

"You know," he said looking away, "You'll never be a good ninja if you close your eyes at the sign of danger."

Her eyes widened at the eleven-year old before her. It had been a year since they had met, and yet he never ceased to amaze her with his character. He was so different. He encouraged her instead of putting her down like her father and cousin.

"I-I'm sorry," she said shyly. He looked down at her and gave a small smile.

"Don't be sorry. Be better, Hinata. I know you can," He said giving an almost invisible smile. Hinata knew this smile. It was the smile reserved for only her. For the first time in their friendship she stood up and gave the Uchiha a hug. He was her friend, and she valued him. She vowed to be better for him.

But the thing that surprised her the most that day was not her sudden courage. It was not the words he had said. It was the fact that Uchiha Itachi hugged her back.

**To be continued**

**--- **

**Ok…thanks for reviewing guys… tell me what you think! **

**Later**


	3. The Massacre's Deadly Effects

**When We Were Young**

**Chapter 3: The Massacre's Deadly Effects**

Hinata smiled as she got up and dressed for breakfast. Today was the day that marked her friendship with Itachi lasting for three years. She happily skipped down to the dining room, wondering why all the servants looked so sad.

She made her way through the door, but she froze at the sight of her irritated father and angry cousin.

Hinata walked towards the two slowly and asked quietly, "What's wrong?"

"The Uchihas have been massacred," Her father said calmly.

Hinata gasped as the tears welled up in her eyes.

"Uchiha Sasuke lived, though," Neji said thoughtfully.

"What about Itachi?!" Hinata asked frantically.

Hiashi regarded his daughter coolly, saying, "That boy is responsible for the death. It was a mistake to befriend him Hinata. If I ever hear you soiling the Hyuuga reputation by so much as whispering his name, I will beat his memory out of you. Do you understand?"

She nodded slowly, fighting back tears. Hinata excused herself from the dining room and went up to her room for the day. She cried harshly into her pillow for hours. "Itachi, why did you-

"You were instructed not to say his name. I will have to tell uncle," Neji said sadistically.

"Neji, how'd you get in here?!" she panicked. He smirked and ran from her room, with her chasing him. However, he was too fast, and Hinata's screams were heard throughout the Hyuuga compound that night and many other nights.

**Seven Years Later**

Hinata pushed her long hair behind her ears and continued to punch the log in front of her. While she trained, she thought about her past.

"When we were young, I was foolish," she recited as she hit the log she was giving a face.

"I trusted you at age five. I admired you at six. At seven we were best friends. At eight I thought I loved you. That all changed," She said as she moved into a stance to kick.

"At age nine I realized how you betrayed me. At ten I tried to break my self from you, so that my father would not continue to do it himself. At eleven I developed a crush on a boy called Naruto. He doesn't reciprocate. At twelve I dreamed about you. I called out your name in my nightmare, trying to save you. But Neji woke me and took me to father. At thirteen I tried to forget you again. At fourteen I scolded my self for not hating you. And now, I do hate the traitor. I hate you Uchiha!" she screamed.

Hinata fell down in a heap and held back tears. "But, if I hate you, then why does it still hurt?"

The Hyuuga got back up and took off her jacket, revealing a white tank top. It was much to hot to wear her coat.

She sighed and began training again. Screaming in fury she pulled out a kunai and stabbed the log repeatedly.

"You do realize that I heard you from a mile away?" a voice said.

"I am sorry. Please excuse my outburst," she forced out as she turned around.

She stopped breathing and her blood ran cold when she saw a pair of red eyes. The man before was not the Sasuke that she associated with those blood eyes, and she knew it instantly.

"Hinata," Itachi said lowly, dangerously.

"Bastard," She said turning her back on her former friend. She soon realized her mistake as she found her self suspended in midair with a hand around her throat, forcing her to look into his devil's eyes.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" she asked, trying to remain calm. They both knew how poor of an actress she was.

"Don't turn your back on me. It makes me angry. You should not possess the audacity to turn away from a superior shinobi," He said coldly. She glared at him, despite her lack of air. As she began to die in his grip, a flash of pain flickered over her eyes. The boy could take it no longer, and he dropped her. She coughed and gasped for air. Finally her breathing returned to normal, and she looked up.

Itachi was staring up at the stars with a look of hurt on his face. Hinata was unaware that she, the weakest ninja in the village: as her father called her, had been the first to seriously hurt the feared shinobi before her. With one look she tore down his resolve for blood.

"Come with me," Itachi ordered as he pulled her up. Hinata noticed he had her jacket and she glared.

"I won't," she said yanking her hand from his. Knowing she had no chance of she fought, she ran through the training grounds as fast as she could.

She smiled when she got away from him and stopped to breathe. Unfortunately, a swift hand to her back rendered her unconscious.

The Uchiha stared at her stoically before picking her up and slinging her onto his back. He carried her out of the village and to a cliff nearby. Itachi laid her jacket down and placed her on it. Then he played the waiting game.

An hour had passed when Hinata finally woke. She sat up and looked around, frightened.

"Don't even consider running away. It is a long fall, and I will not save you," Itachi said from behind her.

She jumped, but she stood to face him anyway. Both heir and heiress looked one another over. Itachi had discarded his cloak, which Hinata found in her hands. She blushed faintly, and handed to him wordlessly. She went to pick up her own jacket, but Itachi got there first and threw both garments over his shoulder, to the ground.

She glared angrily at him but made to move around him to retrieve her coat. He stepped in front of her.

Finally she had had it, and she punched him in the face. Surprised that he didn't try to block her she stared wide-eyed at him, taking his appearance in for the first time. She observed how he was more mature. His childhood kindness had clearly left his body. He was taller and had more muscles. Hinata knew for a fact he could easily kill her.

His voice interrupted her thoughts.

"You are too pretty to wear that."

"What?" she asked confused.

He sighed impatiently and repeated himself, "You are too pretty for the coat. Do not wear it again."

She blushed and looked down, cursing her skin. Itachi raised her chin with his finger and their eyes met. The girl could take the pain no longer. She fell into his arms and began to sob. She told him everything. She told him about her father and Neji. She told him about how she deceived herself into liking Naruto. She told him about her insecurities.

"Why did you do that to your family? Why did you leave me?" she sobbed

Itachi's form finally melted, and he encircled his arms around her protectively. He made a mental note to deal with her family, and he answered the girl in his arms, "I killed them because it was their time. That is all I will say. I did not leave you. I came back for you."

She looked up at him again, "I hate you for what you've done."

"That's a lie. You do not allow the people you hate to kiss you."

"You haven't-

Itachi silenced Hinata with his lips on hers.

'When we were young, I loved you. And nothing has changed,' Hinata thought.

**End**

**So…. What did you think? ** I finally updated! WhooT!


End file.
